Spider bite?

[raisingarizona13]

Last Saturday I pulled a t-shirt out of the closet and threw it on. It was crumpled up and buried in a bin on the floor. Shortly after I felt a stinging sensation on my upper right back/shoulder area. It felt like a splinter of wood or grass was caught in my shirt so I shook the back of my shirt, a couple of seconds later I felt a second prick/sting further right and right on top of the scapulae. I still didn't think much of it and shook my shirt again. I was out the door right after and I had an exam I needed to be at down in Phoenix so I wasn't focussed on this at all. About 1000 feet away from my place I feel swelling. That area of my back was swollen like crazy and there was a golf ball on my scapulae.

The pain and discomfort started right away, it's not the worst pain ever but it's there. It's kind of a dull radiating pain that shoots out in all directions from the bite locations. All of the muscles in the area are really sore. I went hiking two days ago and I couldn't believe how sore my legs were from the relatively short hike. I have had some minor chest pains as well. The swelling has mostly gone away but where there was a golf ball there is still some swelling. It's been 7 days now and it still hurts a little.

I didn't see the critter but we have been spotting wolf spiders and black widows around our place. At first I thought it must have been a wolf but now the symptoms seem more in line with a widow bite. It's obviously not a severe case if so and I'm not scared of dying or anything especially being a week now but I am curious what others experiences have been like and thoughts on what it might be from.

One more thing....I never kill spiders in fear of the karma it might produce but a week before I got bit I spotted a large wolf spider in the house and I squashed it. I have a daughter and I didn't want it inside, they are fast and hard to catch so killing it seemed like a better option.

[liv2ski]

Damn, I hope it wasn't a BW bite as those can kill the surrounding tissue. Maybe go to the doctor?

[KQ]

does it have a bulleyes pattern?

Spider Bite Pictures

[GeezerSteve]

Spider bite is a good guess. Years ago a Brown Recluse crawled in my sleeping bag and bit me on the chest. Bullseye eventually became a circle of dead flesh. Nasty but no long-term issues.

[HankScorpio]

I'd go to the doctor. A couple summers ago I had a spider bite on my hip. It didn't hurt but turned into a huge red mark. They gave me a month's worth of a steroid and anti-biotic. The mark went away after about a week and I didn't really have any effects because I caught so quick.

I had lyme when I was 18 and it put me in the hospital for a month, after that I don't mess with arachnid bites. Better safe than sorry, taking a pill everyday for a month is an easy alternative.

[raisingarizona13]

does it have a bulleyes pattern?

Spider Bite Pictures

No bullseye, it's definitely not a recluse bite. The swelling has gone down substantially but it's still sore and I'm achy. There isn't much else you can do and I'm a broke student right now without insurance so seeing a doctor isn't really an option. The lyme disease aspect wasn't something I thought about, that's common with spiders?

[raisingarizona13]

I'd go to the doctor. A couple summers ago I had a spider bite on my hip. It didn't hurt but turned into a huge red mark. They gave me a month's worth of a steroid and anti-biotic. The mark went away after about a week and I didn't really have any effects because I caught so quick.

I had lyme when I was 18 and it put me in the hospital for a month, after that I don't mess with arachnid bites. Better safe than sorry, taking a pill everyday for a month is an easy alternative.

Jesus man! A month? WTF?

[KQ]

FYI: Brown Recluse are only found in this part of the US


Distribution of the brown recluse spider (dark shading) and other species of Loxosceles spiders in the U.S. (light shading).

For those of you in Washington:

WSU scientist: Dreaded spider doesn’t live here

[Art Shirk]

FYI: Brown Recluse are only found in this part of the US


Distribution of the brown recluse spider (dark shading) and other species of Loxosceles spiders in the U.S. (light shading).

For those of you in Washington:

WSU scientist: Dreaded spider doesn’t live here

I've seen this map before and I debated it with my doc in college. He was certain I had a BR bite in CA. I did some research back then and recalled finding out that maybe the jury was out on the above map??? I sure had all the signs of a BR bite. The suckatude was high.

edit: just saw the carve-out line up into SoCal. I was in the Bay Area though.

[bodywhomper]

i think hospital/md visit is a good idea.

do you know how to recognize the look, sound, and feel of a widow web? for me, i can tell when i've accidentally broken a widow web, even if i didn't see it. of course, there's a chance the widow (if it was a widow) didn't have web spun in your shirt. widow bites are supposed to be pretty horrible, years back, trackhead claimed that they put people in the hospital more often and longer for pain management over bites from other poisonous critters; based on his observations working at a hospital in the SW.

i've had a few pretty bad random bites over the past few years that i've attributed to wolf spiders.

another ideas: centipede or scorpion.

[Skidog]

No bullseye, it's definitely not a recluse bite. The swelling has gone down substantially but it's still sore and I'm achy. There isn't much else you can do and I'm a broke student right now without insurance so seeing a doctor isn't really an option. The lyme disease aspect wasn't something I thought about, that's common with spiders?

No Insurance? How is that possible?

[raisingarizona13]

i think hospital/md visit is a good idea.

do you know how to recognize the look, sound, and feel of a widow web? for me, i can tell when i've accidentally broken a widow web, even if i didn't see it. of course, there's a chance the widow (if it was a widow) didn't have web spun in your shirt. widow bites are supposed to be pretty horrible, years back, trackhead claimed that they put people in the hospital more often and longer for pain management over bites from other poisonous critters; based on his observations working at a hospital in the SW.

i've had a few pretty bad random bites over the past few years that i've attributed to wolf spiders.

another ideas: centipede or scorpion.

What were the wolf spider bites like? I have sensitive skin and I get strange allergic reactions from all sorts of stuff. It's probably that, the discomfort isn't anything as extreme as what people describe from a bw. I would have felt a centipede or scorpion and besides, we don't really have them here at 7000 feet. I literally killed a wolf spider inside our house a few days before I was bit.

[raisingarizona13]

No Insurance? How is that possible?

Murca

[raisingarizona13]

I've seen this map before and I debated it with my doc in college. He was certain I had a BR bite in CA. I did some research back then and recalled finding out that maybe the jury was out on the above map??? I sure had all the signs of a BR bite. The suckatude was high.

edit: just saw the carve-out line up into SoCal. I was in the Bay Area though.

I have found a lot of stories/information that points towards the range being a lot more broad but who knows? I don't. I have heard about them here in Arizona.

[bodywhomper]

What were the wolf spider bites like? I have sensitive skin and I get strange allergic reactions from all sorts of stuff.

for me: a good deal of pain and swelling. the pain seemed to start immediately and grew in intensity for a few hours then slowly subsided. the area stayed swollen for several days with some eventually, but minimal, tissue death several days later at the center of the swelling. if i had fever or other symptoms, i didn't attribute them to the spider bite. compared to my wife and two of my kids, i do not have very sensitive skin; they get rashes from laundry detergents, mangos, soy sauce, tomatoes, etc.

[liv2ski]

The lyme disease aspect wasn't something I thought about, that's common with spiders?

No, that is from some species of tics. Sorry to hear your a broke student with no insurance. Fukin Merika indeed. Vote for Bernie.

[raisingarizona13]

for me: a good deal of pain and swelling. the pain seemed to start immediately and grew in intensity for a few hours then slowly subsided. the area stayed swollen for several days with some eventually, but minimal, tissue death several days later at the center of the swelling. if i had fever or other symptoms, i didn't attribute them to the spider bite. compared to my wife and two of my kids, i do not have very sensitive skin; they get rashes from laundry detergents, mangos, soy sauce, tomatoes, etc.

That sounds like what I have experienced. I'm like your wife and kids, detergents or too much sun can give me rashes, mangos and pineapples make my mouth and throat puff up, cats ruin me and a short dry and sunny spell after some good monsoon rains I get really bad post nasal drip. I had poison ivy once when I was a kid and it looked like a case of leprosy.

[raisingarizona13]

No, that is from some species of tics. Sorry to hear your a broke student with no insurance. Fukin Merika indeed. Vote for Bernie.

I am for sure. It's all good. I'm working towards a better life but it's a pia getting there!

[raisingarizona13]

move to the pnw asap for much relief.

My kid is here so I'll be staying if I can but if I can't get a local job out of school the PNW or Colorado is on the radar. I have always been intrigued by Bellingham. I also have a friend in Leavenworth and that place sounds really sweet.

The PNW is the only zone left that I haven't lived in and would like to experience.

[swerve]

Keep an eye on it and watch for redness spreading from around the bite. I got bit a few years ago and didn't think anything of it but ended up with a MRSA infection. After a week I finally went to the ER because I ached all over and had a fever. They cut a big chunk of dead/infected skin out of my leg and I spent three days in the hospital to get the infection under control.

[Gepeto]

Take a pen or magic marker and draw around the swelling (or have someone do it for you). Watching how it changes should dictate your next course of action.

Keep your activity level to a minimum and try not to help the poison race through your circulatory system.



I waited 4 or 5 days and my arm had doubled in size. Came within hours of an amputation... stubborn isn’t always an asset.

[Cruiser]

Thank goodness you weren't putting underwear on when this happened, huh? Spider bite on the taint would be a real show stopper.

[liv2ski]

^^^^^FKNA

[raisingarizona13]

Thank goodness you weren't putting underwear on when this happened, huh? Spider bite on the taint would be a real show stopper.

I don't know, the lady might have appreciated a little extra swelling down below. Just kidding, that would have been terrible. I'm totally wigged out now, I have been smacking shoes out and excessively fwapping out my cloths before I put them on.

@Gepeto, good advice, I was going to go ride today but now I have changed my mind. The swelling has decreased greatly but it's still very sore and my whole body aches a little but that's been standard for the last 12 years or so. It's hard to tell the difference between the regular aches and what might be from this bite.

[jon gaper]

Any ER will treat you for free.